JG Farrell in His Own Words : Selected Letters and Diaries

Contents

Contents Acknowledgements vii Foreword by John Banville xi A Lost Autobiographical Voice 1 1 Threshold 1943–60 5 2 A Man from Elsewhere: France 1961–62 9 3 Life is Made up of Separate Experiences: England and Ireland 1962–63 44 4 Works in Progress: London 1965–66 77 5 A Craving to Write Something Good: America 1966–68 98 6 Beginning to Ship Water: London 1968 126 7 Troubles (aptly named): London 1969–70 165 8 The Home Beautiful: Recognition – London 1970 201 9 Two Parts White Sahib: India and England 1971 222 10 The Rogues Gallery: the Faber and Booker Prizes 1971–74 253 11 The Singapore Grip: Singapore and London 1975–76 291 12 Battling On: London 1977–March 1979 331 13 Life is Bliss Here: Ireland May–August 1979 356 14 Postscript 383 ‘A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford’: Derek Mahon 385 Chronology 387 The Correspondents 391 Endnotes 407 Index 457 Life is short. Life is very, very short. (Cliché of the week.) JGF to Bridget O’Toole, 21 October 1969 Acknowledgements My greatest debt is to Richard Farrell, Jim’s younger brother and literary executor (as well as sharing, to an uncanny degree, Jim’s tone of voice). Richard Farrell and his wife Lindy welcomed this project at the start and have smoothed my path at every turn. My thanks, too, go to Jim’s older brother, Robert Farrell, who lives in Canada. Deborah Rogers, Farrell’s key agent for Troubles and The Siege of Krishnapur, has been unfailingly helpful and provided full access to her files. Farrell’s many friends responded promptly to my request to them to search attics, desks and drawers for any letters or cards from him. I know all too well the extra burden that entails. When Farrell died, in 1979, the fax was barely used and email was still shrouded in the future, but telephones , of course, were second nature. For that reason, those who lived nearest to Farrell found least; distance proved the greatest benefactor. I would like to thank all the following for taking such trouble on his behalf: Gillon Aitkin, Brigid Allen, Ian Angus, Garry Arnott, Vincent Banville, Paul Barker, Franz Beer, Alan Bennett, Bernard Bergonzi, Pamela Bradley, Sue Bond, Kenneth H. Brown, Professor Peter Brown, Felicity Bryan, Susannah Clapp, Jill Cox, Bob Cumming, Patricia Cumming, Beryl Dawson, Malcolm and Clare Dean, Diana Ditchfield, Roger Donald, Margaret Drabble, Maureen Duffy, Roy Foster, Stephen Frears, Judy Friedlander, Sandy Fuller, Andrew Gemill, Sir Martin Gilbert, Martyn Goff, Tom Gover, James Hale, Francis King, Ann Kitz, Brian and Rose Knox Peebles, Rosemary Legge, Daniel Mankowitz, Oliver Marriott, Caroline Moorehead, Patricia Moynagh, Rosaleen Mulji, Edna O’Brien, Ruth Padel, Brian and Michelle Pearce, Catherine Peters, John Phillips, Neville Phillips, Piers Plowright, Piers Paul Read, Hilary Pratt, Ron Robertson-Swann, Michael Roemer, Sally Sampson, André Shiffrin, David Simpson, Hilary and John Spurling, Robin Stott, Alf Tansey, Bertrand Tavernier, Paul Theroux, Lavinia Trevor, Calvin Trillin, Carole Tucker, Stephen Wall, Marina Warner, Janet Watts, Margaret Windham Heffernan and Lacy Wright. vii viii J.G. Farrell in his own Words For everyone who came up trumps, I am grateful for their subsequent largesse in so unstintingly sharing their finds. The difference of light and shade between these letters and the diary excerpts, too, is poignant, pointing up the disparity between the public and the essentially private dialogue. The most unguarded letters in this collection were written to the women who were closest to Farrell, and readers and scholars of his novels will continue to benefit from the generosity shown by Gabriele, Carol Drisko, Sarah Bond and Bridget O’Toole. There must be a sense of exposure in doing so, and yet they courageously took that risk. When researching my biography J.G. Farrell, the Making of a Writer (Bloomsbury 2000), I was given access to those belonging to Carol, Sarah and Bridget, and the newly-discovered letters to Gabriele, whose identity I know but who prefers anonymity in this collection, chart Farrell’s earlier development . A completely different angle is revealed in his lengthy airmail correspondence with an Oxford contemporary, Russell McCormmach, which includes a cumulative reading list of the books which most influenced Farrell throughout his adult life. He was a mutual letter-writer, just as he was a mutual conversationalist , and brief deletions have been made for comments about subjects that have nothing to do with Farrell...